I Missed You
by diamondgirl
Summary: WARNING: Hercule-friendly Ficlet--Hercule decides to start acting like a dad again.


Hercule was halfway across the mansion when Videl got home, but he still heard her slam the front door. She was probably heading to her favorite gym, the east wing mini where she could train alone and be close to her room. It had been the same thing nearly every afternoon for the past three weeks. Today, Hercule's curiosity and concern for his daughter's emotional well being finally outweighed his respect for her privacy and hear of her superior strength. Something was obviously upsetting his daughter, and today Hercule Satan would do everything in his power to change that.  
  
When he reached Videl's gym, she was already moving to the second punching bag. So focused was she on venting her anger that Videl didn't even notice her father until he'd said her name three times.  
  
"What do you want, Dad? I'm kinda busy?"  
  
"Take a break, Videl. This might take a while."  
  
Impatience changed to confusion, but Videl sat down on the green mat that had been put in two months ago. The whole room had been redone to look more "outdoorsy" as per Videl's wishes.  
  
"Dad…?"  
  
"You've been upset lately. You're upset today. Now, if this was a normal thing, like almost letting a criminal get away, I would let you deal with it on your own. It's happened before. But you've been like this for three weeks, Videl. What on earth could possibly make my little sugarpeach upset for three weeks?"  
  
Videl suddenly seemed to find the mat very interesting. "I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"  
  
"That's bullshit and you know it." Videl looked shocked, and understandably so—Hercule hadn't shown genuine concern for his daughter's feelings in a long time. "I want to make you feel better, but I can't do that if you won't tell me what's wrong."  
  
Videl made no move to break the silence, so Hercule did the unheard-of and admitted defeat.  
  
"If you change your mind, I'll be in the garden until dinnertime." With that, the World Champion left the gym no wiser than he had entered.  
  
The sun was getting low when Videl sat down next to Hercule outside. He waited, and she eventually spoke.  
  
"Have you ever had more-than-friend feelings for someone, but no matter what you tried they didn't ever seem to notice you as more than a friend?"  
  
"So *he's* the problem, huh? I shoulda known." Hercule sighed. "Videl, us menfolk are idiots. It doesn't matter how smart we are most of the time or what species we are, every one of us becomes a total blockhead at some point in our life. I knew your mother since we were five—we began training in the martial arts together when we were ten and we were nineteen when I realized that, not only was your mother madly in love with me, I was equally in love with her deep down. She had to beat me over the head, but it was worth it in the end—you happened, after all.  
  
"So just give the scrawny punk a little longer, and if he doesn't come around, see what his mother can tell you to make him suffer."  
  
"Dad?" Hercule looked over. Videl looked better. Relieved, even. "Thanks."  
  
"Anything for my little sugarpeach," he replied, looking happier as well. "Now let's go see if dinner's ready."  
  
"I hope they made enough. I've got almost as big an appetite as Gohan's tonight!"  
  
"Where do they put all that food, anyway?"  
  
"They have a really high metabolism that heals them faster and makes them more powerful than a human would be. That's how Gohan explained it, at least. I just don't see how ChiChi can feed one Saiyan, let alone three!"  
  
"Well if you're lucky, you'll be able to answer that yourself someday."  
  
"Daddy!" Videl thumped her dad on the arm, perhaps a little harder than she'd intended.  
  
"Do you wanna get involved with Gohan or not?"  
  
Videl simply glared for a moment, then lunged to catch her surprised father in a hug. "Welcome home, Daddy. I missed you!"  
  
Returning the embrace, Hercule felt a warm feeling of something like joy spread through him.  
  
"I missed you, too, sweetheart. It's good to be back." 


End file.
